TAMPA, Fla., July 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlantic Merchant Capital Investors, LLC announced today that it has made an investment in conjunction with Celeridem Capital Management, LLC into Symbiont.io, Inc. Symbiont is a financial technology startup headquartered in New York, NY. The company provides blockchain technology IP and tools to automate decentralized peer to peer trading of Smart Securities™. Its Founder and CEO, Mark Smith, is a serial entrepreneur whose successes include LavaFX, which sold to Citigroup in 2004.

"We are very excited to have the opportunity to back Mark Smith and his executive team in this exciting financial technology venture. We think the company's technology suite and IP will provide the industry with valuable solutions across a wide spectrum of assets. Mark has assembled a world-class team and board to help him execute his plan. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in this company at such an early stage," said Allan Martin, CEO of Atlantic. The company's board includes: Mark Smith (CEO); Robby Dermody (Symbiont's President); Neil DeSena, founder of Sena Hill Partners and former Managing Director, Global Head of REDI Products at Goldman Sachs; Duncan Niederauer, former CEO of the New York Stock Exchange; and Shiv Govindan, Managing Member of Celeridem, and former President of Resource Financial Institutions Group, Inc., the FIG investment group at Resource America, Inc.

"The team at Symbiont is enthusiastic about our new capital partnership with Celeridem and Atlantic," said Mark Smith. "The capital they and other investors have provided will allow us to deliver production technology and clear the way to a Series A round later this year. We are also excited about the opportunity to work with Shiv Govindan and Jeff Hunt [principal at Atlantic]. They bring more than capital to the table."

Symbiont expects to issue the securities associated with this funding via its proprietary blockchain technology.

Atlantic Merchant Capital Investors is a Tampa-based private equity firm with investments in middle-market companies throughout the United States. Its primary investment focus is financial services with emphasis on insurance and banking. It also has a growing portfolio of investments in scalable start-ups in an effort to support entrepreneurship in the Tampa Bay area.

Celeridem is a private investment partnership founded by Jeff Hunt and Shiv Govindan to invest in financial technology companies throughout the United States. It has offices in Tampa, Florida and Denver, Colorado.